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73. General Condition of Vehicles. —There was little change during the past twelve months in the general condition of vehicles owing to two main factors : (1) The difficulty in securing adequate supplies of spare parts. (2) The slow rate at which new vehicles find their way into service. 74. In regard to the supply of omnibuses and other types of passenger-service vehicles, the present demand for new vehicles is such that it exceeds the capacity of the body-building industry of the Dominion. 75. During the year 5,107 new cars were registered, but as there are over 200,000 cars in operation the rate of replacement falls considerably below that necessary to offset normal obsolescence. Already on the roads to-day there are some 120,000 cars which are ten or more years old, and it is clear that for many years to come old vehicles will continue to be used which under pre-war conditions would have been discarded as having reached the end of their economic life. To retain such vehicles in service extensive patching and repairing will be necessary, and in the interests of road safety a thorough examination at regular intervals is of primary importance. REGULATION OF COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT 76. All the wartime restrictions administered by this Department which affect the freedom of commercial road transport operation have now been dispensed with. 77. Taxieab Control Committees. —All these Committees were abolished before the 31st March, 1946, except the Auckland Metropolitan Committee. This Committee was abolished in January, 1947. 78. Alteration to Transport Districts. —In August, 1946, the four existing transport districts were revoked and replaced by five transport districts. A new district, No. 5, was created, comprising the Nelson and Marlborough Provinces, which were previously part of the No. 3 District". The Gisborne Area was transferred from No. 2 District to No. 1 District, and No. 4 District remained unaltered. The alterations were made for the purpose of enabling three District Transport Licensing Authorities to carry on in place of four. 79. Transport Licensing Authorities. —The licensing of road transport services is vested in the Transport Licensing Authorities. Three District Transport Licensing Authorities consider all applications relating to all goods and rental-car services, and all taxieab and passenger services except those operating within the four main cities. Applications in respect of these services come before the four Metropolitan Authorities. 80. The volume of applications considered by the respective Licensing Authorities shows an increase on the previous year. Owing to the resignation during the year of the No. 3 District Licensing Authority, the No. 4 District Licensing Authority took over the additional duties of No. 3 District Authority. To spread the work more evenly among the three remaining Authorities the No. 3 District was reduced by the creation of No. 5 District, and the licensing of this district was taken over by the No. 2 District Authority, and the Gisborne Area was transferred from No. 2 to No. 1 District. This resulted in a considerable increase in the number of applications considered by each of the District Licensing Authorities. 81. During the year the District Licensing Authorities found it necessary to grant a large number of temporary goods and passenger-service licences. A large number of these licences were granted to enable road transport to supplement the

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